Research Guides: EALC 299: Modern and Contemporary Japanese Literature and Film (HC): Literature

Literature - History and Criticism

Dawn to the West: Japanese literature of the modern era
Two volume history of literature from 1868 to 1984 written by an influential Scholar. Volume one discusses fiction; volume two discusses poetry, drama and criticism. Each volume has a "Selected List of Translations into English" and a glossary. Use index to find where a particular author or book is discussed.
The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian literature
Has chapters on topics as well as individual authors.

Modern Japanese Writers
Entries on twenty-four writers. Each entry has a list of works in translation and secondary works. The introduction provides interesting thumbnail portraits that give you a sense of each writers style and thematic topics. Published in 2001.

Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online (DLB)
This is an excellent place to start your research. The entries on authors feature a biographical/critical essay as well as other features such as listings of interviews, biographies, works in English and bibliographies of secondary research. Click on the tab "Browse Volumes" and select Japanese Fiction Writers, 1868-1945. Vol. 180 or Japanese Fiction Writers Since World War II. Vol. 182 to see what authors are featured in essays. You can also search by your author. These volumes are also available in print format.

A Reader's Guide to Japanese Literature
While it covers works from the eighth century through mid 1990s, most of the short summaries of particular works or authors covers the modern period.
Biographies of modern Japanese authors
Part of the Jlit website. Provides short biographical / critical information on numerous authors. The most useful feature is that for a small number of the authors there are tabs that take you to: information on translations, studies, and links for a particular author.
The A to Z of Modern Japanese Literature and Theater
Bulk of the the work consists of short entries on individual authors, genres, and literary developments. Also includes a chronology starting on page xxv, and a bibliography starting on page 149 which lists suggested works on broader aspects of Japanese literature as well as works on individual authors. The introduction to the bibliography provides a good survey of the important writings on modern Japanese literature.

Japanese Women Writers: a Bio-critical Sourcebook
Has entries on fifty-eight women writers. The chronology starting on page 501 provides a listing of when the writers lived. Covers writers up to the early 1990s.
Japanese Women Novelists in the 20th Century
Provides biographies as well as lists of western language translations of 104 women novelists who published works between 1900 and 1993.
Japanese Women Fiction Writers: Their Culture and Society, 1890s to 1990s
Entries on individual authors. Both the author's works and secondary works about the author are annotated. The "Glossary and Suggestions for Further Reading" starting on page 537 is interesting in that it leads the reader to books on topics that might be covered in the author's fictional works such as 'elder care' and 'women's suffrage'.